Marker



Aug- 24, 1954 J. F. sHEE-rs 2,687,116

MARKER Filed Feb. 5, 1951 sof #3A ere3 476. 4. If4.3 46 4a A T TORNE YPatented Aug. 24,1954

UNITED STATES PATENT ori-ICE MARKER Jesse F. Sheets, Pasadena, Calif.

Application February 5, 1951, Serial No. 209,466

2 Claims. 1

This invention vrelates to a marker specically adapted to use in markingtires of parked vehicles.

It is generally conventional practice in police departments throughoutthe country to check on overtime parking by periodically marking onetire of each car parked in a particular parking zone. After an intervalof time in excess of the legal parking limit in that zone, the carstherein are again checked. Any car bearing the original marking isobviously overparked. In order to mark a maximum of cars in a minimum oftime, a mounted policeman, carrying an elongated chalk or crayon holder,drives past the parked cars at moderate speed marking one tire ofeachcaras he passes.

l have now developed marking means specifically adapted for this use andwhich has an important feature of a resilient connectionbetween thechalk holding portion of the marker and the handle portion. This featureis of importance because of the fairly strong impact frequentlyresulting from attempting to mark a tire while riding past a car on amotorcycle. By supporting the chalk resiliently with respect to thehandle, chalk breakage, as a result of such impact, is minimized and thetendency for such an impact to knock the marker from the hand oi theuser is likewise minimized.

In one embodiment the marking means of the invention comprises anelongated handle, a collet adapted to receive and hold a length ofmarking chalk, and means resiliently joining the collet to the handle.In preferred practice the collet is resiliently joined to an end of thehandle to extend therefrom atan angle to the longitudinal axis of thehandle. This angular orientation of the collet has the obviousadvantage` of `facilitating side marking of a tire from a position abovethe tire.

The term chalk as used herein contemplates any type of marking materialsuch as conventional chalk, wax marking sticks and the like. The type ofmarking medium employed in the apparatus of the invention forms no partof the invention apart from the fact that such medium must be used toimpart utility to the apparatus. v

The invention will be clearly understood from the following detaileddescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation view of one form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

fol. `12o-9) 2 Fig; 3 is a section taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a section of an alternative form of the apparatus taken on aplane generally at right angles to the plane of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a partial perspective view showing an alternative means forresiliently connecting the marker collet to the marker handle.

`Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, the embodiment of the invention there showncomprises an elongated handle IU conveniently having a rubberized handgrip II aiiixed at one end and a collet I4 joined to the handle I6 toproject therefrom at an angle from the longitudinal axis of the handle.The preferred manner of joining the collet I4 to the handle I0 is shownin Figs. land 2 and comprises a pair of square sectioned coil springsI6, Il, each spring having extending end sections embedded respectivelyin the adjoining ends of the handle It and the c01- let I4. I

Conveniently the adjoining ends of the handle and collet are drilled toreceive the ends of the two springs I6 and I'I. In Fig. 2 collet Irl isshown to have a pair of receiving holes 2d, ZI extending inwardly froman end face of the collet. Set screws 24, 25 are set in the collet Illadjacent the spring receiving end to clainp the inserted ends of springsI6, Il in the receiving holes 20, 2l respectively. The set screws areeach positioned on an elongated chord oi the circular section of thecollet rather than on a diameter thereof to achieve the necessarypurchase to hold the springs in the collet and to avoid weakening of thecollet, as might result from both set screws being mounted on the samediameter or on a shorter chord. The opposite ends of springs I6 and I1are similarly held in the end of handle I0, one of the corresponding setscrews 21 being apparent in Fig. 1.

The collet itself may take several forms, a preferred form being shownin Fig. 3 as constituting a section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 andan alternative form being shown in Fig. 4 through a sectionperpendicular to the section of Fig. 3. Referring to Fig. 3, collet I4there shown comprises a cylindrical body 3B having an enlarged elongatedbore 3I extending from one end with the tubular portion of the body asformed by the bore being split by a plurality of evenly spaced grooves,one of the grooves 32 being visible in Fig. 3. Each of the grooves isrelieved at its inner end by a hole through the body wall, the hole 33associated `tial perspective View oi Fig. 5.

assigney end thereof with the tip of the tubular portion of the bodybeing beveled and designated in the drawing as 30B. A nut 3E isinternally threaded to screw onto the threads 3ft in the body and isbeveled internally at its outer end to engage against the beveled tip39B of the body. With the nut 36 backed away from the body, a length 38of marking chalk shown in phantom in the gure may be inserted into thecollet. The chalk is clamped therein by tightening up the nut 36 toexert a pressure through the adjoining beveled surfaces of the nut andcollet, binding the chalk in the collet.

The alternative form of collet as shown in Fig. 4 likewise includes abody il@ having an enlarged cylindrical bore l2 throughout a majorportion of its length. The body walls of the surrounding bore are, as inthe foregoing ernbodiment, provided with diametrically opposite slots43, td terminating at their inner ends at relievingr holes lSA, MA,respectively. Slotting of the body in this manner provides a flexibilitynecessary to clamp the chalk in the collet. 1n this embodiment theopposite end of the body 69 is provided with a tapered pipe thread d6,and an associated collet nut i8 is threaded internally to engage thethread L16. Clamping action on the chalk (chalk 59 shown in phantom) isdetermined by the degree to which the nut lil is screwed onto the body43.

Conveniently the collets, either of the type shown in Fig. 3 or of thetype shown in Fig. l,

are made of tubular stock with the spring re Ceiving end being pluggedfor purposes of rigidity and for receiving the spring ends. The mannerin which the particular collet is constructed is a matter of choice andforms no part of the present invention.

An alternative form of joining a collet of the types shown in eitherFigs. 3 or 4 to the type of handle shown in Fig. l is shown in the par-In this figure a handle 93 is joined vto a collet 52 by means of asingle relatively broad leaf spring 54, the adjoining ends of the handleand collet respectively being slotted to receive the opposite ends ofthe leaf spring f. Set screws 55, Se in the handle G and collet 92,respectively, serve to hold the embedded ends to the leaf springtherein. f

Various methods of resiliently joining the collet to the handle havebeen experimented with.

To date the tvvo` means shown in the accompanying drawing are by far themost satisfactory with the square sectioned spring being considerablysuperior to the leaf spring as shown in Fig. 5. A circular sectionedcoil spring is entirely unsatisfactory as not being sufciently rugged incomparison to the square sectioned spring, as illustrated, to withstandthe repeated jarring accompanying use of the marker' for the purpose forwhich it was designed.

I claim:

1. Marking means comprising an elongated handle, a collet adapted t0hold a length of marking chalk, a pair of square sectioned coil springs,means anchoring one end of each spring in an end of said handle andmeans anchoring the other end of each spring in an end of the collet,each spring traversing in excess of one loop about an axis normal to thelongitudinal axes of the handle and collet so that the collet lies at anangle and points away from the longitudinal axis of the handle..

2. Marking means comprising an elongated handle, a collet adapted tohold a length of marking chalk, a square sectioned coil spring, meansanchoring one end oi the spring in an end of the handle and meansanchoring the other 'end of the spring in an end of the collet, thespring traversing in excess of one loop about an axis normal to thelongitudinal axes of the handle and collet so that the collet lies at anangle to and points away from the longitudinal axis of the handle.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED' STATES PATENTS

